The founders of advertising agency Adam & Eve are understood to have paid out up to £750,000 to settle a legal dispute with WPP chief Sir Martin Sorrell.

Sorrell launched a legal action against Adam & Eve's founders – James Murphy, David Golding and Ben Priest – in early 2008 claiming that they had broken the contractual terms of their gardening leave after resigning from WPP-owned agency RKCR/Y&R.

The trio reached an out-of-court settlement with WPP last week and issued a carefully worded public apology over the matter.

It is understood that the settlement included a payment to WPP of between £650,000 and £850,000.

In the joint statement published last week, Adam & Eve's founders "apologised unreservedly" for "over-stepping the mark".

The trio left RKCR in June 2007 and after a period of gardening leave set up Adam & Eve in January last year.

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